The National Park Service Selects Send Word Now's Notification Platform

Send Word Now to Support Critical Communications for the Bureau's D.C. Office and U.S.-Based Parks

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - October 19, 2010) - Send Word Now, the leading provider of on-demand alerting, response, and incident management services, announced today that The National Park Service has joined other groups in the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Emergency Management in selecting Send Word Now as the enterprise alert and notification system for over 390 locations, including Grand Canyon National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Zion National Park, and the National Capital Region in Washington, D.C.

The National Park Service will use Send Word Now's geo-enabled alerts and native application for BlackBerry® smartphones to assist with rescues in isolated areas. During a location-specific emergency, public safety personnel will be able to map out a region of a park and contact only those recipients in the affected area. The Park Service will then use the alerting service to coordinate law enforcement, emergency medical services rescue teams, and fire personnel.

Additionally, the National Park Service will use Send Word Now at its Emergency Incident Coordination Center in Washington, D.C. to convey critical information on security and national response to senior leadership and response personnel. The system was tested successfully during the 2009 Presidential Inauguration and has been continually used since then throughout the National Capitol Region to protect monuments as well as millions of visitors.

In selecting a service, The National Park Service was looking for a notification system that could replace antiquated paging systems and deliver beyond conventional applications. Send Word Now met all of the Park Service's requirements, and the system will be integrated seamlessly with the bureau's compass system to support emergency dispatch centers, public safety answering points, and satellite based distress beacons used in the back country by rangers and visitors.

"Having the flexibility to integrate a commercial off-the-shelf web-based application across our existing systems was a key point in selecting Send Word Now," stated Dean Ross, Deputy Chief, Law Enforcement, Security, and Emergency Services. "Throughout my career," he added, "Send Word Now has continued to develop next-generation architecture, as best exemplified by their newly released Incident Management Service and their upcoming desktop alerting platform. I am impressed by the company's future roadmap and I am anxious to employ all of its services across our network."

"We are proud to offer our robust notification platform to the National Park Service, which is the largest fully federal emergency medical services provider in the United States, and the largest inland search and rescue provider in North America," said Tony Schmitz, President and CEO of Send Word Now. "Whether during emergencies in remote corners of our national parks or business disruptions in the Washington, D.C. office, Send Word Now will be there to meet all of the bureau's communications needs."

Since 1916, the American people have entrusted the National Park Service with the care of their national parks. With the help of volunteers and park partners, the Service is proud to safeguard these nearly 400 places and to share their stories with more than 275 million visitors every year.

The National Park Service is a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Interior and is led by a Director nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The Director is supported by senior executives who manage national programs, policy, and budget in the Washington, DC, headquarters and seven regional directors responsible for national park management and program implementation. Collectively, these executives make up our National Leadership Council.